With the advent of the Internet and online electronic commerce (e-commerce), financial transaction programs that allow users to seamlessly purchase products, transfer finds and conduct transactions over an Internet connection have been in high demand.
Traditional methods of executing financial transactions have been limited to a user providing his or her credit card, debit card, or checking account number on a commercial website, or using checks, money orders and other forms of paper-based payments. However, these means of executing financial transactions are often cumbersome, slow, and inconvenient, requiring a user to remember a multitude of account numbers, login data and passwords. This often results in significant time delays for payment processing. Furthermore, security and fraud concerns are prevalent. For instance, a user is often reluctant to provide sensitive credit card or debit card information over an Internet connection, regardless of how “secure” an Internet connection claims to be.
Recent financial transaction programs have emerged as a means for a user to pay for purchases, transfer money, receive money (if the user is a merchant), store shipping addresses, and set up multiple financial accounts (e.g. checking or savings, credit card, debit card) all with one single login and password. Security and fraud concerns are also mitigated by means of online financial security precautions, encryption methods, and anti-phising programs that are inherent in online, Internet-based financial transaction systems.
However, many of these financial transaction programs are limited in that users are dependent on an Internet browser in order to browse to a main website, enter their username and password data and access their account information in order to execute financial transactions such as paying for purchases, transferring money or checking account balances.
Users are limited in that they are dependent on a computer with Internet access and an Internet browser, or a wireless handheld device (e.g. cell phone, BlackBerry, PDA) with an Internet browser application installed. Problems arise if the Internet browser is broken. In that case, the user has no other means of accessing his or her online financial transaction program website. Furthermore, the level of user convenience for a given Internet browsing experience is limited to the specifications of the Internet browser. In other words, the user is stuck with the hard-to-locate buttons, keys or pull-down menus of a selected Internet browser, when the ideal alternative is a user-friendly Graphic User Interface (GUI) program with intuitive aesthetics and keys/buttons placed in regions optimal for user convenience.
Therefore, there is need for a method or software application with a user-friendly GUI setup that enables a user to access their online financial transaction program account without having to depend on an Internet browser. One such browser-independent solution is the use of a software application known as a “Widget”, previously known as “Konfabulator”. Widgets are basically software applications that use a JavaScript runtime environment coupled with an XML interpreter reading XML code to run miniature browser-independent GUI applications. Widgets also usually feature a flexible Application Programming Interface (API) for users and programmers to make their own Widgets. Typical Widgets include: weather forecast monitors, temperature or climate indicators, digital clocks, day planners, calendars, stock-tickers, sports game scoreboards, calculators and currency converters.
However, the one common feature shared by all Widgets is that they are all “passive” monitors, displayers or calculators of information. For instance, you only use a Widget to observe the weather, tell the time, convert currency rates, or be informed about the present status of a stock or the current score of a sports game. No Widget allows for direct interaction with the external world. For instance, a user cannot use a Widget to conduct financial transactions that have an actual impact on his or her bank account, which belongs in the physical external world. In other words, a user cannot use a Widget to transfer money from his/her bank account, withdraw funds, pay for bills, or perform other financial transactions that have an impact on the world outside of the user's computer.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an Internet browser independent software application similar to Widget-based technology but which integrates a network-interconnectivity aspect and which also utilizes a user-friendly GUI configuration in order to allow a user to seamlessly and securely conduct financial transactions online with a computer or wireless handheld device without having to depend on an Internet browser.